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Please fill in the Character Chronicle information in the link below as well as the Macros link.
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Welcome Oskar! Certainly play whichever character you want and we will make it work out :)
Looks like we have everyone checked in. If everyone could please fill out the two links on the first post of this page, the Macros and Chronicle information. Please try and have that completed before this weekend so we can get started up on time. These will help me facilitate combat and secret checks as we go.
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Oskar has Inspire Competence, which lets him roll Performance (+14) with Cooperative Nature (+4), to Aid, and a failure counts as a success. So basically when making skill checks out of combat: roll a d20 - a 1 is still a crit failure but a 2-11 gives a +1 to your check and a 12-20 gives a +2 to your check. Please feel free to roll this yourselves for your exploration mode skill checks since Oskar can basically do it at will (it's a composition cantrip) though of course the GM may rule that it may not apply in some instances.
It can also be used in combat but it's a bit tricky in PbP since I have to use a single action on my turn and then a reaction on your turn (and be within 60' of you). So if you think you might want to use this on your turn (e.g. say you want to trip someone, or tumble through, etc.) if you give me a heads up beforehand I can try to use an action on my turn to prepare the reaction for your turn.
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Done.
Anjo is going to buy put +1 Striking runes on his bastard sword. +1 potency on his armor.
Probably buy a Brooch of Shielding.
Anyone have any advice on good magic items for an archery Ranger?
Starting gold: 436.73
160 = +1 armor potency
145 = Boots of Elvenkind
35 = +1 potency rune weapon
65 = striking rune
405
Just out of curiosity, does is Pacifying available to PF2 players? Or do you have to have it on a chronicle?
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Ok, have updated for Khunbish.
GM, I have a question to ask about initiative for Irves, Khunbish's animal companion. While Khunbish would usually be searching, Irves would be avoiding notice. But animal companions go on the same initiative as the druid. What have been done in previous game is that while Irves goes on Khunbish's turn, he also rolls a stealth check vs the perception DC of the enemies to see who doesn't notice him, i.e. is flat-footed to him at the start of the combat. Is that ok?
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Do you have some sort of feat or ability that allows your Animal Companion a separate exploration activity. Normally it is just your exploration activity and the animal companion following along as you would have to be constantly giving it commands every few seconds otherwise.
If left unattended for long enough, typically 1 minute, mindless minions usually don't act, animals follow their instinct
I ask this as the only companion ability I am aware of that can take separate exploration activities is the Summoner class ability Act Together. As the last sentence here states This lets you each use separate exploration activities like Avoid Notice as you travel.
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I'm not sure if using the Summoner class ability is a good gauge because eidolons share actions with the summoner, while an animal companion (and familiar) have their own actions, albeit only taken when commanded. I tried looking up the rules of Animal Companions and exploration mode but that isn't covered. Not even in the rules for minions, except the rule you quoted. That said, if RAW by minion rules, then animal companions can't seem to explore on their own, and I guess it is not practical to keep giving commands every round.
So would that mean that even if Khunbish were to Avoid Notice, his AC would just follow along openly, since it doesn't have its own exploration activities? That also is quite strange because a large cat following Khunbish would give his location away quite easily. :) I guess I have in mind Drizzt and Guenhwyvar sneaking around, laying ambush and stuff. So 2E rules doesn't seem to allow for that. That would be problematic 'cos it means that a cat companion can never start a combat stealthed, which hampers its additional 1d4 for flat-footed targets, and pretty much prevents Cat Pounce from ever activating. Oh well...
Something else struck me. If someone was riding their animal companion, since they would have to Command it every round to Stride, then the rider would not be able to take exploration activities? Hmm...
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Obviously not the GM here, and not tryng to be, but I find that when I GM, it's nice to have others weigh in on how they read the rules.
The first thing I will point out is that there are gaps in the rules. There are things that do not make sense based on other rules and since its all arbitrary, there's no easy/consistent way to resolve them. So expect table variation.
I tried looking up the rules of Animal Companions and exploration mode but that isn't covered.
In PF2, the animal companion has a much reduced scope of activity as compared to PF1. It seems the intent was to dramatically simplify and unequivocally nerf the benefits of a Companion. Gone are the huge list of Tricks that one could have an animal perform.
That said, if RAW by minion rules, then animal companions can't seem to explore on their own, and I guess it is not practical to keep giving commands every round.
A Minion can't do anything "on its own." Nevertheless, the Command an Animal rules say an animal can Seek. So if Commanded, an animal could use Seek during Exploration. But, as written, it cannot be commanded to Avoid Notice, Investigate, Track, or Defend, Scout, etc (see animal specialization for exceptions). However it should be pointed out that PF2 authorizes GMs alter the options where necessary. For example, if a Companion lost its PC and had the Scent ability, a GM might allow someone in the party to Command the Animal to track its master.
So would that mean that even if Khunbish were to Avoid Notice, his AC would just follow along openly, since it doesn't have its own exploration activities?
The animal cannot Avoid Notice, but it can Seek. So it can have an exploration activity, just not all the ones available to PCs.
That also is quite strange because a large cat following Khunbish would give his location away quite easily. :)
Probably. Deciding to have an Animal Companion following you has consequences. If you want to sneak around, I do not think it is unreasonable that a Companion is going to interfere with that.
I guess I have in mind Drizzt and Guenhwyvar sneaking around, laying ambush and stuff. So 2E rules doesn't seem to allow for that.
It's not reasonable to expect the game to allow the same mechanics in a written novel or actions from a movie.
That would be problematic 'cos it means that a cat companion can never start a combat stealthed...
Not necessarily. Per RAW, animals can specialize You'll notice that one of the specializations is Ambusher that allows the animal to use Sneak in its natural environment. So unfortunately, because there is a special path for a Companion to use Sneak, that makes it hard for the GM to allow it outside of taking that specialization.
... which hampers its additional 1d4 for flat-footed targets, and pretty much prevents Cat Pounce from ever activating.
Cat Pounce allows the animal to Stride and Strike. Fortunately, it is 100% usable without being Hideen or Undetected. The 1d4 for flat-footed is available whenever the creature flanks something or the target is flat-footed for other reasons. If your Cat is an Ambusher, then it could sneak on its own and use Cat Pounce to get the 1d4 without a flanking buddy. Bu the inability to start combat Hidden/Undetected does not preclude Cat Pounce or the flat-footed damage.
If someone was riding their animal companion, since they would have to Command it every round to Stride, then the rider would not be able to take exploration activities? Hmm...
I am not seeing where that would be true. The Exploration activities do not list an action cost and do not automatically preclude other non-exploration activities. However, I might rule as a GM that if you do not have the Ride feat, you might not be able to focus on other activities.
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You can certainly stealth without your cat interfering. It doesn't necessarily mean that your animal companion needs to be adjacent to you.
Another method of cat pounce going off would be for you to:
◆ Khunbish (Command Animal)
◆ (Irves) Hide - Assuming you are in a suitable location this will make you hidden
◆ (Irves) Cat Pounce
This allows it to cat pounce once a round.
As stated your cat will also get that 1d4 while flanking. Another common error I see folks do is they command summons and animal companions to move into a flank position. An animal with minimal intelligence isn't going to know this,
From the Command an Animal action: Most animals know the Drop Prone, Leap, Seek, Stand, Stride, and Strike basic actions.
When you command an animal it should take the most direct path when striding or striking, if that happens to be flanking then great, but really the animal is just trying to get in there and attack. Others should be moving around the animal to help the animal gain flanking. They have an intelligence modifier of -4.
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From the Command an Animal action: Most animals know the Drop Prone, Leap, Seek, Stand, Stride, and Strike basic actions.
So as someone who has a Ranger with a Companion with Stealth, I do not know how this happens:
◆ Khunbish (Command Animal)
◆ (Irves) Hide - Assuming you are in a suitable location this will make you hidden
◆ (Irves) Cat Pounce
Per RAW, the animal doesn't know Sneak or HIde. I haven't found a section in the rules that says you can command an animal to do things it doesn't know.
This allows it to cat pounce once a round.
The way I read the rule, and I think we are in agreement, the animal doesn't need to be hidden to use Cat Pounce.
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Just a few points to add to discussion, to clarify the rules of animal companions.
While you can command an animal to seek, RAW, it is not the same thing as the search exploration activity. But even if so, it would require the character to be commanding it every round, which isn't very practical.
On the ambusher specialisation, again sneak is an action, and RAW, is not the same thing as the avoid notice activity. Moreover, the way it's phrased, I suspect the emphasis is not on the AC being able to sneak, but being able to sneak "even if it's currently observed."
I'm not sure if I'm not understanding something but I don't see then how to get the undetected part of cat pounce to work. Before combat triggers, we are in exploration mode, but as a minion, you can't get it to avoid notice, so the AC will always start combat observed. In combat, the hide action only allows you to become hidden, then a sneak action to then become undetected. But RAW, you can't command an AC to hide or sneak. So a cat AC can never become undetected RAW, except in some rare situations where someone cast invisibility, there's smoke, etc.
(I'm not denying that cat pounce is useful - the 1 action to stride and strike is good. I'm just wondering why bother having the undetected part if it's almost impossible for a cat AC to become undetected.)
On a separate point on flanking, if not for the purpose of attack, can a character command his AC to stride to a specific spot? If so, then how is that different from commanding the AC to move to a specific spot that allows for flanking, then to attack with its second action? If not, then how would commanding an AC to stride work? A stride command would have to tell it where to stride to, wouldn't it. (Separately, I would argue that many animals would instinctively know what flanking is, from what I see in animal documentaries of lions or hyenas taking down their prey.)
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Just a few points to add to discussion, to clarify the rules of animal companions.
Once again, I'm not trying to play GM, but I also have an Animal Companion, so this topic and how PFS addresses it also affects me. I will also point out that I sense from frustration on your part and you're not alone.
I'll spoiler my comments so as not to distract others.
While you can command an animal to seek, RAW, it is not the same thing as the search exploration activity. But even if so, it would require the character to be commanding it every round, which isn't very practical.
This is where table variation comes in. Exploration is Paizo's way of acknowledging that round by round actions are nonsensical out of combat. So the GM has to decide what are feasible amount of actions a character could continuously sustain. If you're saying that having to use Command Animal every round to get an animal to Seek in Exploration mode would preclude the PC from doing anything else, I am inclined to think Paizo would. I don't see a RAW or intended benefit for a Companion is that the player gets to engage in two separate Exploration activities. I don't think Paizo wants a PC to be able to Investigate and simultaneously Search with the Companion. For any normal PC to do this, they typically need to have Legendary in the underlying skill. I don't see that a 1st level Feat should be just as good.
Granted, you're not arguing that you should be able to do two things but that is why I think the rules are written as such.
On the ambusher specialisation, again sneak is an action, and RAW, is not the same thing as the avoid notice activity.
Remember when I said the rules have gaps? The rules also talk about the Bully being able to Intimidate and yet there is mechanic that explains how this is accomplished with a Companion that has Intimidate.
Moreover, the way it's phrased, I suspect the emphasis is not on the AC being able to sneak, but being able to sneak "even if it's currently observed."
That is a possible interpretation, but it could also be both. The problem is that there is no other rule I find which addresses an animal being able to use a Skill action outside of Specializations. In PF1, the developers came out and said an animal knows how to use its feats e.g Power Attack, Spring Attack, etc.
So if there's a rule where I think a GM could allow you to command the animal to Sneak or Intimidate it might be here:
If an animal knows an activity, such as a horse's Gallop, you can Command the Animal to perform the activity...
Does having Stealth mean you know how to Sneak? Does having Intimidation means you know how to Demoralize? I'd probably rule yes, but...YMMV.
I'm not sure if I'm not understanding something but I don't see then how to get the undetected part of cat pounce to work.
It's interesting to note that there is Pounce for Creatures which uses "hidden" and there is Cat Pounce for an AC and on items that specifically use "undetected." I have to view that as an intentional decision by Paizo to give a less effective benefit. To put it another way, a Cat companion seems to have been given the less potent version on purpose.
if it's almost impossible for a cat AC to become undetected.)
It's not. If you can command an Animal to Hide/Sneak, then you can Hide and Sneak (to change location) to become undetected. If you can't command an animal to Hide/Sneak, then you'd have to make it an Ambusher and ask the GM how it's suppose to work.
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So some of those other actions you speak of are where a Nature checks to command an animal against their Will DC or even possibly this feat comes into play.
THis should help your AC learn a few more tricks to their repertoire.
Below is a bit of text from Commanded animals from the rulebook is where the flanking portion comes into play. So you can instruct it to go to a certain space if you wanted to go that route.
Commanded Animals
Issuing commands to an animal doesn’t always go smoothly. An animal is an independent creature with limited intelligence. Most animals understand only the simplest instructions, so you might be able to instruct your animal to move to a certain square but not dictate a specific path to get there, or command it to attack a certain creature but not to make its attack nonlethal. The GM decides the specifics of the action your animal uses.
The animal does what you commanded as soon as it can, usually as its first action on its next turn. If you successfully commanded it multiple times, it does what you said in order. It forgets all commands beyond what it can accomplish on its turn. If multiple people command the same animal, the GM determines how the animal reacts. The GM might also make the DC higher if someone has already tried to Command the Animal that round.
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Didn't mean to derail the discussion thread here, and perhaps this discussion is better suited for the forums.
For the purpose of this campaign, I won't bother getting the AC to avoid notice during exploration or to hide/sneak during combat to not complicate matters further. And from the latest GM's post, I could command it to stride to a specific spot, then strike from that spot, which would effectively allow it to flank. (I would not be able to dictate for it to go a specific path, so it could end up provoking AoO.) Would that be ok?
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Sorry forgot to mention a few things before we start, if GM is agreeable.
Khunbish will cast L2 longstrider on himself at the start of every day.
Also, he'll select 2x lesser healing potions for his school items but will pass to others in the party since he'll usually be in animal form. They are for party use and no obligation to use on Khunbish or Irves.
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[ooc]As others seem to have similar questions. The way the three Condition work are:
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For those of you who have any interest in Rangers....
That is the first time in 5 levels of playing a Ranger that my second shot on Hunted Shot was a crit that it would not have been had I been playing Precision instead of Flurry. Actually that's 9 levels of Ranger if we count my lvl 4 Flurry two-weapon fighting Ranger.
So with Precision that would have bee a total of 46+6+8 = 60 vs 76 (with Flurry).
While I haven't been keeping accurate stats, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I hit with a second shot that would have missed with Precision. I'd have to wager that at least at this point, the extra 1d8 I would have been doing would probably still put Precision ahead.
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@GM
So a question about nonlethal
As a player character, when you are reduced to 0 Hit Points, you’re knocked out with the following effects:
You immediately move your initiative position to directly before the turn in which you were reduced to 0 HP.
You gain the dying 1 condition. If the effect that knocked you out was a critical success from the attacker or the result of your critical failure, you gain the dying 2 condition instead.
If you have the wounded condition, increase your dying value by an amount equal to your wounded value.
If the damage was dealt by a nonlethal attack or nonlethal effect, you don’t gain the dying condition; you are instead unconscious with 0 Hit Points.
I am reading this as the only requirement to knock someone unconscious is the last hit has to be nonlethal?
So if you do all the damage nonlethal, but the last hit point is lethal, they are dying?
If you do all the damage lethal, but the last hit point is nonlethal, they are unconscious?
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Okay, that is what I was afraid of and Anjo would not bother making his first attacks nonlethal.
As an FYI, I don't count any cover penalties (-1, I think) for shooting through people. If that would have made the first attacks non-crits, we can just subtract that extra 48 damage from these attacks to compensate. I think I came up with like 67 damage if that first is a crit and you only need a 21 to hit. So subtract 48 and Orange takes another 19.
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They are longer, as it is more of a social encounter system.
The influence subsystem divides a social encounter into rounds, with the number of rounds representing the length of the social event. Rounds last any amount of time that you determine, depending on the needs of the narrative, though somewhere between 15 minutes and an hour is typical.
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Discovery (Secret Academia Lore, PFS Lore, Society, Arcana, Perception) :
Influence with lowest DC, Personal Bias, Resistance, or Weaknesses of the NPC.
Influence 0 points (Architecture Lore) :
@GM
Full disclosure, I don't really understand how this subsystem works.
We have Discovery checks to do what? Figure out how to influence Nigel? Aren't these the same checks as the last time?
What is meant by "influence with the lowest DC"? Are all of them the lowest DC? So we are influencing "Resistance"? I don't get it.
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The way the influence system works is you have to discover (Discovery (Secret Academia Lore, PFS Lore, Society, Arcana, Perception) ways to be able to influence the person.
You don't know how best to influence the person until you discover which skills work best. The NPC's have varying influence skills with escalating DC's. If you succeed at your secret discovery check you have the choice to unlock the lowest DC Influence skill. If you crit fail you may get the highest DC skill on the list.
Resistance and Weakness can give you a bit of roleplay opportunity to give you bonuses towards your influence checks.
If you succeed at influence checks you will get influence points. The group as a whole wants to get as many influence points as possible.